Golf – Accepting professional mediocrity in a hobby/sport

I had the occasion to be at the Australian PGA Open in Coolum, Australia on the weekend of the 26^th November. The Final days play, the top 72 golfers in pairs for the prize money.

It was rubbish.

What is it with amateur golfer spectator? They are all accepting of mediocrity and average ability.

Hit a ball into the trees, and they nod sagely, with a sigh, then the golf hacker hits the ball out of the trees on the course again and they nod sagely, clap politely and call “good shot”. It’s nonsense. It was a rubbish shot.

Of course there is skill in hitting a golf ball, the draw, the fade, the back spin, and there is a definite knack to putting. But seriously hitting a ball a hundred yards to a green and finishing 20-30 yards from the hole isn’t a good shot. It just isn’t.

Of course some holes are challenging, but hey you’re a professional. I don’t expect you to lay up and two putt, that’s what a weekend hacker would do.

Golf is a sport that has strict requirements regarding equipment. As a result, expanding the market generates great demand for the necessary gear. It’s a bizarre sport wherein the price of your kit defines you among your peers.

And the money!  For the tournament that I was at the Total Prize Money was : AUD $1.5 million, the First Prize was AUD $270,000. Every one of the top 72 players gets a prize. It’s like a social club meat raffle! I notice that for the tournament I was at the only direct golfing related company that was a sponsor was Srixon, some of the others were Coca-cola, the local government, Emirates (who seem to sponsor everything everywhere), the hotel where the course was at, the TV channel and VW Automobiles.

There is a end of year tournament referred to as the “race to Dubai”.  “The Race to Dubai on The 2011 European Tour International Schedule will feature 52 tournaments in 29 different destinations. The third edition of the Dubai World Championship in 2011 will again carry a prize fund of $7,500,000  to be divided between the leading 15 players at the conclusion of the season.

Essence of this is: play at the tournaments with higher prize money and climb the earnings list. It’s not like every tournament is equal, some have much more prize money and attract different players, some are quite poor.

Anyway the leader list on the “race to Dubai” is brought up at the rear by Jack Doherty who’s tour earnings from 4 tournaments amount to Euros 891. 115^th place is Markus Brier 25 tournaments with Euro 258,513. Leading with 12 tournaments and Euro 3.8 millions is Luke Donald

There are players with 34 tournaments played for less than Euro 100K winnings, that’s not a living that’s surely is a hobby

Like I said a bit of nonsense.